Alan Lane (Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering)
Dr. Alan M. Lane is a Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering at The University of Alabama. He has worked for Union Carbide Corporation (polymerization processes, 1984-1986), Battelle’s Pacific Northwest Laboratories (nuclear waste treatment, 1977-1979) and Pacific Northwest Testing Laboratories (ASTM testing, summers 1968-1976). He has been a visiting scholar at Boise Cascade Corp. (dioxin from pulp bleaching, 1990), Qingdao Institute of Chemical Technology (chemical reactor modeling, 1993), the University of Wales (magnetic ink characterization, 1995), and Argonne National Laboratory (fuel processing to make hydrogen, 1999).
Lane earned BS degrees in both Chemistry and Chemical Engineering from the University of Washington (Seattle) in 1977. He obtained a PhD degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts (Amherst) in 1984. His academic research projects have covered a broad spectrum of chemical reaction engineering, especially heterogeneous catalysis: chemical reactions during metal casting, dioxin formation during waste incineration, selective synthesis gas reactions, green manufacturing, diffusion in porous media, hydrogen production for fuel cells, and fuel cell electrode reactions. His teaching interests are focused in chemical reaction engineering.
Lane’s wife, Lorrie, is an accomplished artist whose paintings are featured in galleries across the Southeast (lorrielane.com). His daughter, Elizabeth, is a Fashion major at UA and his son, Charles, is a middle school student and filmmaker. Lane also performs as singer-songwriter Doobie ‘Doghouse’ Wilson (doobiedoghousewilson.com) and as a guitarist in the band PhD’Licious.